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FBI probe focuses on Transportation
FLETCHER ADMINISTRATION CABINET IS TARGET
By Ryan AlessiRALESSI@HERALD-LEADER.COM
The FBI has launched an investigation into the state Transportation Cabinet regarding "activities that occurred during the previous administration" of Gov. Ernie Fletcher, a cabinet spokesman confirmed Tuesday.
But Chuck Wolfe, the agency's communications director, said he couldn't discuss specifics, on the direction of Secretary of Transportation Joseph Prather, who came into office with Gov. Steve Beshear in December.
"The only thing I've been authorized by the secretary to say is that we are cooperating with an investigation of activities that occurred during the previous administration," Wolfe said.
When asked whether the federal investigation is focusing on a pattern of activities or a specific instance, Wolfe said, "I wouldn't know how to characterize it. I can't say anything beyond that."
FBI Special Agent Clay Mason, who runs the bureau's Frankfort office, said he could "neither confirm nor deny any ongoing investigation."
Last week, a high-ranking holdover from Fletcher's administration resigned from his $95,000-a-year post effective March 31.
James W. Rummage had worked for Fletcher, a Republican, as chief district engineer in District 7 since 2004. The district covers Fayette and 11 other counties. Before that he ran the neighboring District 9 for six years under Democratic Gov. Paul Patton.
Reached at his Morehead home Tuesday, Rummage said it was his decision to leave but wouldn't say why. He wouldn't comment on whether he had been interviewed by or provided information to the FBI.
"There's nothing I can help you out with right now. There's nothing I can say right now," he said.
Howard Mann, attorney for Fletcher's Transportation Secretary Bill Nighbert, said he hadn't been contacted by investigators about any investigation.
The Transportation Cabinet, which oversees construction and maintenance of state roads, has long provided fodder for investigators and has been the source of ethical problems and scandal.
The agency played a central role during the attorney general's investigation into state hiring violations in Fletcher's administration.
Last year, the Executive Branch Ethics Commission looked into claims by former highway commissioner Sam Beverage that the agency paid for road contracts for political supporters out of a slush fund -- a claim Fletcher and Nighbert denied. Beverage and another former official earlier admitted to ethics violations related to fixing a bid on a bridge.
In 2001, during Patton's second term, the FBI looked into whether bridge inspectors solicited bribes from construction firms in Louisville, as well as whether the agency's employees took money in exchange for altering driver license records.
During past administrations, the intersection of campaign contributions and road work contracts has been a target of investigators.
For example, federal investigators pursued several road construction firms for making campaign donations in the 1991 election in their employees' names. Such donations would violate state law banning corporate contributions to candidates.